As Japan celebrates a discovery that is reportedly set to help sustain the nation's economy for the next decade, experts have shared their concerns of the implications it could have.
As previously reported, Japanese researchers have uncovered a massive deposit of precious minerals - located over 1,200 miles away from Tokyo lying dormant on the ocean floor.
A whopping 230 million metric tons of minerals nestled 5,000 meters below the surface was found around the remote Minami-Torishima Island, teeming with manganese nodules rich in cobalt and nickel — key ingredients in today’s battery technology.
This find could redefine Japan's position in the global electric vehicle (EV) race as more and more people opt for cleaner transport.
Per Business Insider, The Nippon Foundation and researchers from the University of Tokyo believe this newly found deposit could single-handedly supply Japan with cobalt for an astonishing 75 years and nickel for over a decade of production, according to the Japan Times.
The discovery was first reported by Nikkei after researchers - employing sophisticated mining equipment and remote-controlled submarines - explored the seabed. What they found was approximately 610,000 metric tons of cobalt and 740,000 metric tons of nickel.
As of this writing, cobalt is worth $24,080.36 USD per metric ton, putting this find at $14,689,019,600.
Nickel is worth $16,167.68 USD per metric ton, adding a further $11,964,083,200. (Spot prices found using YCharts, of course, these numbers can fluctuate over time.)
Combined that is a total of $26,653,102,800 worth of material found.
However, the find has left some experts concerned, as the road to recovering these underwater riches is not a simple task.
Set to commence in 2025, deep-sea mining is an expensive, technically demanding, and controversial endeavor. Similar initiatives, like those proposed by Norway, have sparked significant environmental concerns.
While deep-sea mining promises substantial economic benefits, particularly for nations like Japan, recent research has revealed a severe environmental cost. A study conducted by Travis Washburn, a researcher at the Geological Survey of Japan, has uncovered a disturbing trend: Marine life is declining significantly in areas impacted by deep-sea mining operations.
"These results suggest the impact of deep-sea mining could be even bigger than we think," Washburn warned.
The study found a 43% drop in fish and shrimp populations just one year after a small-scale mining test was conducted. This decline was observed both within and outside the immediate mining site, indicating a broader environmental impact than initially anticipated.
"I had assumed we wouldn’t see any changes because the mining test was so small," Washburn remarked. "But it was actually enough to shift things."
The World Resources Institute (WRI) has also voiced concerns about the potential damage to local sea life, knock-on effects to fish stocks, and possible climate impacts as a result of the practice.
"There is a high likelihood that less mobile deep-sea organisms would be killed through direct contact with heavy mining equipment deployed on the seabed, and that organisms would be smothered and suffocated by the sediment plumes these machines are likely to create," the Institute states. "Warm mining wastewater could also kill marine life through overheating and poisoning."
The WRI does recognize the need for need for minerals such as the ones located off the coast of Japan is "critical", and that "there is no easy answer to meeting this need".
Additionally, Sophie Benbow - who is the director of a marine program at the conservation charity Fauna & Flora - told the BBC: "There is so much we could learn from ocean biodiversity.
"Medical advances and new technologies could be deciphered from the study of deep-sea species, but they could be wiped out before we even know they exist if deep-seabed mining is to go ahead prematurely."
She added on their official Fauna & Flora website: "We know less about the deep sea than any other place on the planet; over 75% of the seafloor still remains unmapped and less than 1% of the deep ocean has been explored. What we do know, however, is that the ocean plays a critical role in the basic functioning of our planet and protecting its delicate ecosystem is, therefore, not just critical for marine biodiversity, but for all life of earth."
She then warned that "bold decisions are now required to put ocean health and the benefits of the deep sea for all humankind front and center," before adding: "Once initiated, deep-seabed mining and its effects may be impossible to stop."
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